Uniting stitches around the ends of knitted webs.



L. N. D. WILLIAMS.

UNITING STITCHES AROUND THE ENDS OF KNITTED WEBS.

APF'UCATION FILED JAN.26. 1915.

1 258 5 1 3b Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

w w W D m f Z 7 "wi -7 X W {f 4. iii 5 J l I'M/{AME gems r4. 0. vs/mu wls LOUIS N. 'D. WILLIAMS, OF OGONTZ, PENNSYLVANIA.

'UNITING STITCHES AROUND THE ENDS F KNITTED WEBB.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

Application filed January 26, 1916. Serial No. 74,283.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Louis N. D. WIL- LIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing in Ogontz, Pennsylvania, have invented certain improvements in Uniting Stitches Around the Ends of Knitted Webs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that method of closing the end of a tubular knitted web which consists in applying to a semi-circular set of transfer points, first stitches around one-half of the web, and then around the other half, and then uniting said doubled stitches. The object of my present invention is to facilitate the entry of the stitch-engaging points into the stitches engaged thereby.

This object if attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures 1, Q, 3 and 4 are vertical sectional views of part of a circular knitting machine and of my stitch transferring and doubling device, the different views representing the different stages of the operation;

5 is a sectional view illustrating the means whereby the uniting of the double stitches is effected, and

Fig. 6 is a top View of a lifting and centering device employed in connection with the point carrier.

Referring in the first instance to Figs. 1, fl, 3 and d, represents the needle cylinder of circular knitting machine, 2 the neecarried thereby, 3 the cam cylinder whereby reciprocating movement is imparted to the needles, a the web holders for preventing rise of the last course of knitted web with the needles, 5 the ring in which. said web holders are mounted so as to slide radially, and 6 the web holder operating cam ring whereby radial reciprocating mo tion is imparted to said web holdersr It is preferable that the needles around one half of the machine shall be controlled by one set of cams and those around the other half of the machine by another set, the same being true of the web holders and their actuating cams, and it is also preferable that these latter cams shall be so designed as to e'dect retraction of the web holders in order to free from their retaining influence, at one and the same time, all portions of the lmitted web with which transfer points have been engaged.

The cyllnder l is recessed at the upper end, as shown at 7, for the reception of a set of transfer points 8 which, in the case of a circular knitting machine, are disposed in a semi-circular series and are mounted in a semi-annular point carrier 9. Normally the points 8 are retracted within the recessed upper end of the cylinder, as shown in Fig. 1, and the knitted web passes over the tops of said points as there shown. At such time a divided cylinder -11, within the needle cylinder 1, also occupies the position shown in Fig. 1, the segmental point carrier 9 resting upon the top of the member 10 of said cylinder and upwardly projecting pins 12 on the other member ll of said cylinder engaging guide openings at the extremities of the segmental point carrier 9, as shown in Fig. 1.

When the knitting of the desired length of web has been completed the cylinder member 10 is raised so as to lift the point carrier 9 and thereby thrust the points 8 through the stitches of a course preceding the terminal course still held upon the corresponding needles 2, said engaged stitches extending half way around the knitted web, for instance around the left hand half of the same, as shown in Fig. 2. fter the points 8 have engaged the stitches of the web the needles 2 around that half of the machine are retracted so as to cast 0d the terminal stitches of said part of the web and the web holders 4 are retracted so as to free said portion of the web from their control, as shown in Fig. 2, whereupon the point carrier 9 and its points 8, with the stitches upon them, are free to be reversed from left to right, as shown in Fig. 3 and then depressed, as shown in i, so that said points will engage stitches of a course preceding the terminal course around the other or right hand half of the web, the projecting pins 19. of the cylinder member 11 serving to properly center the point carrier 9 and its points 8 previous to such engagement of the latter with the stitches around said right hand half of the web.

The stitches having been engaged by said points the needles and web holders around the right hand half of the machine are retracted so as to cast from the needles the stitches of the terminal course and free said stitches from the control of the web holders, as shown in Fig. 4., whereupon the point carrier and its points 8, each with a pair of stitches upon it, can be withdrawn, and

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applied, as shown in Fig. 5, to the receiving member y of a looping machine of any appropriate character, such for instance as that shown in the patent of Gr. Keyser, No. 1,069,336, dated August 5th, 1913, whereby the double stitches upon the points 8 can be united by the conjoint action of loopers w and w, intermittent movements of partial rotation being imparted to the point receiver y so as to present successive pairs of stitches to said looping devices w-x, in order to unite together the stitches of each pair and the successive pairs of stitches.

l have described the engagement of the points 8 with stitches of the web before the clearing of stitches of the terminal course from the needles, and while this is preferred, it is not absolutely necessary to the proper carrying out of my invention provided some means are employed for clamping the web adjacent to the needles in case the terminal course of stitche is freed from the needles before the engagement of the points 8 with stitches of a preceding course.

in the modern seamless hosiery machine where a toe pocket is formed upon the end of a knitted tube one half of the needles is drawn out of action above the miitting cams upon the completion of the tubular web and the toe pocket is knitted upon the other half of the needles which are then drawn out of action. lln effecting the doubling of the stitches around the mouth of the toe pocket with those around the instep halfof the web in a machine of this type the web holders around the entire machine may be withdrawn after the completion of the toe pocket, the stitches around the mouth of the toe pocket may be engaged by the points 8 and freed from the needles whereby they were produced, and the points may then be turned over and engaged with courses of stitches around the instep half of the web, and the latter freed from the needles around that part of the machine prior to the removal of the points with the double stitches upon them for application to the looping machine.

When the transfer points are engaged with stitches of a course preceding the terminal course of the web open stitches are presented for the entry of the points and there is less chance of missing stitches than when the latter are already occupied by'the needles.

l have described my invention as applied to a circular lmitting machine while,

intasie in most cases, it will be practised in connection with such machine the invention is not limited to use'in connection with a machine of this type.

In the drawing 1 have, for ease of illustration, shown the cross section of the web by a heavy black line except as to the stitches engaged by the needles and transfer points, and the knitting instrumentalities, stitches and transfer points are all shown as of a much coarser gage than they would be in practice.

l claim:

1. The mode herein described of transferring from a knitting machine stitches around one half of a web produced thereby and doubling them with stitches around the other half of said web, said mode consisting in engaging, in one direction, a set of transfer points with stitches of a course previous to the terminal course around one half of the web while said terminal stitches are still engaged by the needles which produced them, then releasing said terminal stitches from said needles, then reversing the position of said transfer points and engaging them, in the opposite direction, with stitches of a course previous to the terminal course around the other half of the web, while said terminal stitches are still engaged with the needles which produced them, then releasing said terminal stitches from said needles, and then removing the transfer points each with a double stitch upon it.

2. The mode herein described of uniting stitches around one half of a knitted web with those around the otherhalf of the same, said mode consisting in engaging, in one direction, a set of transfer points with stitches of a course preceding the terminal course around one half of the web, then reversing the position of said points and engaging them in the opposite direction with stitches of a course preceding the terminal course tillllltl around the other half of the web, then applying said points, with the double stitches upon them, to a looping machine, and then uniting the successive pairs of stitches on said points by means of said looping mechanism.

lln testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

I lifllfld lit. D. Wlli lAl /ld. "Witnesses:

liars A. Banner,

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